DOMESTIC MATERIAL CONSUMPTION INDICATOR AND NATURAL RESOURCES: A EUROPEAN ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE

The study investigates the relation between per capita Domestic MaterialConsumption indicator (DMC) and per capita income. Economic literature focuses mainlyon air, water and land pollution while we consider as environmental degradation theconsumption on natural resources extracted from the environment. Using a cross–European panel of countries over the period 2000-2011, our results confirm the absenceof an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) between per capita DMC and per capita GDPboth for EU-27 vs. 30 European countries and for Western vs. Eastern European countries.The turning points are so high that it is present a monotonic increasing relation betweenDMC indicator and GDP.